


Defying Mortality

by elebridith



Series: Face Value [14]
Category: Angel: the Series, Leverage
Genre: Crossover, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-09
Updated: 2012-07-09
Packaged: 2017-11-09 12:44:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/455584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elebridith/pseuds/elebridith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team escapes death – and it's been too close for their liking. And thinking Eliot is dead for five very long minutes? Lindsey takes that very personal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Defying Mortality

**Author's Note:**

> Mentions of Nate/Sophie and Parker/Hardison.  
> Be aware of: mentions of child abuse and murder (non-descriptive)  
> Words: About 19800  
> Disclaimer: Not mine, no one, nothing. Just playing.  
> A/N: Set in my Face Value!Verse, Eliot and Lindsey live together now for over a year.  
> Inspired by the X-Men Logan/Remy fic "Aftermath" by the awesome enemyfrigate, who generously allowed me to play with that plot. If you like Logan/Remy, check her stuff out, it's great!  
> CCAC = http://www.chicagocac.org/  
> Beta'd by rocketpool, awesome as ever!. Thanks strangecreature and wendyr for additional help!

_ "Get out! Floor's wired with explosives, it's a trap! Get out!" _

Nate's voice sounded frantic through the team's ear buds. Lindsey froze for a second and then sprinted for the stairs. He had never heard Nate sound this panicked before, which could only mean that the shit had really hit the fan this time. He bolted out of the front door, almost running over Sophie on his way out. Barely registering the snapping sound of the door falling shut behind them, he grabbed her hand and yanked her forward, not wasting breath on talking. They ran for the trees where Nate and Hardison waited at the van. Both of them were pale. Nate yelled _"Eliot?"_ and Lindsey closed his eyes with relief as he could hear Eliot's voice answer through the comm.

_ "On my way out." _

Nate released his breath. "Good. Parker?" He frowned as he got no reply. "Parker?" he repeated, this time even more urgent.

_ "One second, I almost got it!" _

Hardison made a squeaky panicked noise. "Parker, get out! Floor's gonna blow!"

Eliot's voice cut in. _"I'll get her."_

Hardison bit his lip. "Hurry, guys, come on! HURRY!"

There was no answer. Nate balled his fists. Sophie grabbed Nate's upper arm tightly, and her eyes were wide with fear. Hardison just mouthed the words "Come on, come on, come on..." over and over again and Lindsey just stood, eyes fixed on the building, repeating the words in his mind. _Come on, Eliot, come on, COME ON..._

The second floor exploded with a deafening noise. Huge balls of flame blasted out the windows, spitting out smoke, debris and shattered glass. Lindsey stumbled backwards, quickly bringing his arms up, reflexively shielding his face from the blast. He was vaguely aware of someone screaming and wondered idly who it was, and it took him a while to realize that the sound came from himself. He forcibly closed his mouth and could practically feel a part of himself shutting down in order not to lose his mind. He stared at the flames, could hear Sophie whispering "No, no dear God, no..." and heard Hardison's desperate yelling, although he couldn't understand his words.

Lindsey's next move made complete sense, at least to himself. _Eliot._ He started to run forwards, towards the burning building. A hand clamping around his wrist stopped him. He looked at it, puzzled, and then turned his head to find out that the hand belonged to Nate.

"Lindsey, stop! What do you think you're doing?"

Lindsey stared blankly at him. "Nate..." Obviously Nate didn't understand the urgency of the situation. "Eliot is in there." Lindsey explained, his voice calm and collected now. "I have to get him out." Nate looked at him with an expression that Lindsey couldn't quite place. Pity? Sorrow? He frowned. _Eliot is in that burning building. And Parker. Why's Nate holdin' me back?_

"Lindsey..." Nate shook himself and turned around, but didn't loosen his grip on Lindsey's wrist. Lindsey made an impatient noise and tried to wrestle himself free, but Nate just tightened his grip more while he looked at Hardison.

"Hardison? How long until police and fire department are here?"

Hardison's face was a mask of barely controlled grief. His voice shook. "Out... out here? Twenty minutes, maybe twenty-five, tops." He gestured weakly. "They, they have this water tank, y'know, it's supposed to hold out until they're here, I don't know why it's not..." His voice trailed off and he wiped his eyes with an angry movement. "Nate... we... Parker..." He looked pleadingly at Nate and visibly deflated at his unchanging expression, dropped his hands down and fell back on his chair.

Nate gave him a small sympathetic look and then nodded slowly. He took a deep shaky breath, but didn't release his grip on Lindsey's wrist. He looked at Lindsey and then at the others, expression hard now. "We have to be out of here before the police arrive. Maybe they..." His voice trembled for a moment until he balled his fist and regained control of it. "If Parker and Eliot are not out in the next... ten minutes, we have to leave. I'm sorry." He exhaled slowly and looked away, letting go of Lindsey's wrist. 

Lindsey froze. _Leave? You can't be serious. Leave them dying?_ He looked around to the others, hoping for some kind of argument coming in, some reasoning that would persuade Nate to go for a rescue. Apart from a punch to the face. _Yeah, that would go well._

Hardison just stared blankly in front of him, but Sophie frantically shook her head, eyes wide. "Nate, no. Maybe they are just hurt. You... we... can't just leave..." She stared at him, and obviously didn't find what she was looking for in his face. She made a desperate sound and started pounding Nate's chest with fury. "No! They are our team, our... family, Nate, you can't..." 

Nate caught her hands gently and looked at her, expression softening this time. "Soph..." His voice was strained with the effort to keep it from cracking. "If they aren't out by then... look." He pointed at the inferno that still raged on the second floor and was almost down to the first floor already, shattering windows and pouring out smoke. Nate touched Sophie's shoulder gently. "If they are alive, they'll either answer the comm or manage to get out. I'm not letting anyone else go in there. Look at it." He pointed at the burning building, but no one looked at it. He continued, voice a little choked but firm, even with a touch of impatience. "If they were in this... they're dead."

Nate continued to speak, to explain, but Lindsey didn't hear it anymore. _Dead_. Four letters, one word, like a quick punch to the stomach. And it cracked Lindsey's hastily assembled shell of denial as easily as a hammer breaks fine china. _No_. He stumbled backwards, barely hearing Hardison's outcry and Sophie's choked sobs. He somehow managed to catch his balance again, but his mind was racing. _No. Eliot... Please God no._ His vision began to blur, but then a sharp pain in his right hand brought it into focus again. He looked down on it, staring blankly at the tiny drops of blood that welled up from the halfmoon-shaped bruises where he had dug in his fingernails too deep. 

Finally he remembered to breathe again, but he still felt completely numb. Words whirled in his brain, repeating themselves again and again. _Eliot. Parker. Ten minutes. Dead._ Then another thought hit him. _I didn't apologize. I didn't... such a stupid fight, and now..._ His breath caught in his throat, causing a choking sound. He clenched his hands around the van's doorframe, trying to keep himself upright. Hardison looked at him with concern, despite his own fears. 

"Lindsey? You know..." Hardison's voice was rough. "If anyone can get out there, it's those two, right? Now me, I'd already be lost, but Parker and Eliot... they can do it, right?" It was as much a reassurance as a desperate question, with Hardison's eyes begging Lindsey to agree. 

Lindsey looked at him, trying to speak, but failing at first. Finally he managed a crooked smile and put his hand on Hardison's shoulder. "Right. Yeah, they... they can do it." He wanted to say something more, wanting somehow to give encouragement despite that he felt it was hollow, but Nate's hoarse voice interrupted them.

"Two minutes."

Lindsey bit his lower lip to prevent himself from screaming out Eliot's name. His hand still on Hardison's shoulder, he could feel Hardison's body stiffen at Nate's words. He heard Sophie making a pained whimpering sound, but kept his eyes on the building. _Come on, come on..._

"Three minutes."

_Already?_ Feeling freezing cold, he wrapped his arms around himself and buried his hands in the sleeves of his jacket. He wanted the ticking time to _Slow down, fuck, that clock's not right, no way the seconds really go by this fast, it's not fair, they just need a little more time to get out of there, I need to apologize, it just can't end like this..._

"Four minutes."

Lindsey tore his eyes away from the building, looking at the others. Hardison was crying silently now, still staring at the burning house with tears flowing down his face. Sophie clung to Nate, her face buried at his neck, her shoulders shaking. Nate had an arm wrapped around her, his face was pale but showed no expression except the haunted look of his eyes. Lindsey closed his eyes. _He thinks they're dead. He just waits here for our sake. To allow us a little hope. Or... to say goodbye._ This time he didn't manage to suppress the sobbing sound that came from his throat. He looked at the building again, the word _dead_ creeping closer and closer to his conscious mind. 

He wanted to scream, all of a sudden wanted the waiting to be over. He wanted to be able to move, to just do something. Preferably hunting down the guy who did this and kill him slowly and painfully. He concentrated on that thought. Yes, that was better than thinking about Eliot. _Who's dead. Like Parker._ Better than watching the flames still blazing or the weirdly pretty way the smoke now curled out of the front door.

His brain did a double take. _Front door?_ His eyes widened as his mind replayed the moment of his flight out of the building. _It... closed. I'm fuckin' sure it closed. So how can smoke come out of it? It was thick enough to not just break..._ A surge of renewed hope rushed through him. He heard Nate's sharp intake of breath and knew that he had come to the same conclusion. Lindsey fixed his eyes on the smoke cloud, not even daring to blink. _Was that... movement_? His eyes started to water and he wiped them almost angrily. And then, judging from the collective gasp he heard, they all saw it. A movement within the smoke cloud. A hunched figure, stumbling forwards. A hunched figure that was undeniably Eliot Spencer, face half-covered with a bandana, cradling Parker's limp body to his chest and staggering forwards, fighting his way out of the smoke.

_Funny._ Lindsey thought vaguely that he should do something, scream with relief, run towards Eliot, start to sob - anything, but he couldn't. The feeling of amazed relief that washed through him was so strong that it froze everything else including his ability to move his feet. Even regular breathing seemed not to run on reflex anymore. So he just stood, forcing himself to breathe, wide-eyed, not really daring to believe what he saw, too afraid that his own wishful thinking had brought on a vision. He saw Hardison jump up from his chair, making an inarticulate noise. Heard Nate exclaim a very colorful expletive. Saw Sophie laughing and crying at the same time. But it felt like watching a movie in fast forward with no remote, desperately trying to catch everything that was happening. 

A voice inside Lindsey's head screamed at him to kick his ass into gear, but he still couldn't move. Doubt began to well up. _It's a trick of my mind. If I blink, it's gone._ He stared at Eliot staggering towards them, voice croaking impatiently "Could use... a little help here!" Hardison rushed forward and, with Sophie's help, gently took Parker's still limp body from from Eliot's arms. 

Eliot pulled down the bandana, stumbled, and only Nate grabbing him by the arm prevented him from falling to his knees. Eliot regained his balance, but then a violent coughing fit began to shake his body. That finally broke the spell and the world snapped back into place. 

"Eliot!" Lindsey rushed over to him and wrapped an arm around Eliot's shoulders. Together with Nate he steadied Eliot as his knees gave in and the coughs turned to dry heaves. Eliot clung to them for balance until the heaves ebbed away and he could finally breathe properly again.

"Nate?" Sophie's voice cut in. She had been helping Hardison carrying Parker to the van, but had heard the coughing. She grabbed the nearest bottle of liquid she could find - a bottle of Hardison's orange soda he'd dropped earlier. She threw it over to Nate. 

Eliot managed to stand on his own again, but he still was shaking a little and leaned on Lindsey for support. Nate pressed the bottle into his hand. "Here, take a sip."

Eliot stared at the bottle in his hand like Nate was handing him gasoline to drink and shook his head. "You're kiddin', right?" But he opened it nevertheless and took a few gulps, spat to clean his mouth and then made a face. "How can someone drink shit like that?" he muttered. 

Nate grinned widely with relief. "Addiction, I guess. To food coloring." For a moment he looked like he wanted to hug the other man, but then just settled for a pat on Eliot's shoulder. "Good to have you both back, Eliot." 

Eliot still clung to Lindsey's arm, but he now looked up and grinned. "Yeah. That was fuckin' close." He straightened a bit. When he noticed the questioning look Nate gave him, he started to explain. "Parker was already half down the stairs when the thing blew above her. Got hit by a piece of plaster. I caught her and then, well..." He shrugged. His voice was a bit hoarse, and he coughed before he continued. "Everything fell apart around us. Rained rubble like hail. Luckily the worst fire came down a good bit away from us, but I lost my comm, all exits were blocked, an' I had to dig us out, literally. Barely managed before the fire caught up with us." 

Eliot looked down at his hands and carefully flexed his fingers, and Lindsey winced as he saw the half-torn gloves that Eliot pulled off his hands. Deep dirty scrapes and a few small angry red burns covered the rest of Eliot's fingers and forearms. Eliot kept talking but Lindsey didn't really hear him. A wave of nausea hit him as Lindsey realized just how close it really had been, an image of Eliot dying under a pile of smoking rubble burning into his mind. Lindsey had to close his eyes for a moment to overcome it. When he opened them again, he saw Nate glancing at him worriedly despite still talking to Eliot. Lindsey gave him a quick reassuring smile and Nate gave him a relieved nod, quickly glanced at his watch and broke off the conversation. 

"Right. If you don't mind, I'll see to Parker now. We have to leave before the police get here. I don't think you caught too much smoke, but you still need to get that checked. But... um..." Nate glanced pointedly back and forth between Eliot and Lindsey while a smile flashed across his face. "Catch your breath first, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, he took a few steps backwards, turned around and hurried over to the others where Parker had just begun to stir. 

Eliot looked after him with a confused expression, but shrugged it off and turned to Lindsey. "Hey." His voice was still a little rough, but his face lit up with a genuine smile. He reached out and brushed his fingertips over Lindsey's lower lip. The familiarity of that gesture made Lindsey's breath catch in his throat. The urge to touch back, the sheer need to _feel_ Eliot was now almost overwhelming, but one thing he needed to do before that. 

"I'm sorry," he blurted out, and Eliot looked a little more confused. 

"Sorry? For what?" 

Lindsey closed his eyes for a moment to clear his head. Then he took out his ear bud, squared his shoulders and looked into Eliot's eyes. "For... this morning. The fight we had. I was wrong and I'm sorry." He bit his lower lip and gave Eliot an apologetic look. 

Eliot tilted his head, looking as if he had trouble remembering what the fight had been about. Then he laughed fondly. "I'd already forgotten it. But yeah, you were a dick." He cupped Lindsey's face and quickly kissed him on the cheek. "'S okay. Forget it."

Lindsey closed his eyes and shivered at the touch, a further proof that Eliot had made it out alive. But then he shook his head fiercely, almost angry. "You don't get it. On our way here? I wanted to apologize, but I didn't. And then..." He gestured wildly in direction of the still burning building. "I... we thought..." His voice trailed off and he looked at Eliot, unable to speak further, willing him to understand.

Eliot shook his head, frowning, still confused. "Linds... we’ve had bigger fights. Apology accepted, but..."

Lindsey threw his hands up in frustration. He made an impatient sound and grabbed Eliot's shoulders, shaking him a little. "The last thing I said to you this morning was 'Fuck it, Spencer, get your head out of your ass'! And then this thing blew up and... fuck, Eliot, for almost five minutes I thought you were dead!"

He saw Eliot's face pale a bit, which made the dirt stains and small cuts on his face stand out even more. It hit him that Eliot really hadn't thought about this, that close calls like this were something he dealt with constantly. And that he simply still wasn't used to someone worrying about him like this. Lindsey exhaled sharply, threw a quick glance at his watch and then decided on a whim that this time they really could talk about it later. 

With a small desperate sound he dug his fingers in the tangled dirty mess of Eliot's hair, pulled him closer and crushed their mouths together. He heard the surprised noise that Eliot made, but didn't let go. He kissed him hungrily, almost angry, catching Eliot's lower lip with his teeth and worrying it gently until Eliot finally shook off his surprise and kissed back. Lindsey felt Eliot's hands come up to his neck, cradling it. He held on, not wanting to break the contact, but finally he had to pull back a little for the unfortunate need to breathe. He was panting harshly, but didn't want to let go completely. Lindsey slowly leaned his forehead to Eliot's, closing his eyes. He didn't even realize that tears were running down his cheeks until Eliot pulled his head back a little, and his hands cradled Lindsey's face. His thumbs brushed the wet traces away, but Lindsey kept his eyes closed. He could hear Eliot's fast breathing and felt his fingers around his nape again, pulling him closer. Then Eliot whispered shakily in his ear.

"I'm alive."

Lindsey's eyes flew open. The mixture of the relief he felt, the adrenaline still surging through him, and those words caused a wave of arousal rushing through him, so intense that was almost dizzying. Kissing Eliot wasn't enough anymore, and judging by the sharp intake of breath that came from Eliot, he had seen it on his face. Fingers still tangled roughly in Eliot's hair, he leaned forward again. Pressing closer, he brushed his lips over Eliot's earlobe. His voice was barely audible now. "We have ten minutes. Prove it." 

***

Sophie smiled as she looked up and saw Nate hurry towards the van. Nate stopped at the open door without getting inside and smiled back, but his worry was clearly visible. "How is she?"

Sophie nodded. "She's coming around. I guess she's got a concussion and maybe a bit of a smoke poisoning, but she'll be all right if she gets to a doctor now." She held up a bag. “Looks like she got something. I'll give it to Hardison once he's got a clear head again. And he can check it out while Parker's being examined."

Nate sighed with relief. "Good to hear." He leaned into the van to kiss her softly and then turned to Hardison who was holding a bottle of soda to Parker's lips, letting her sip carefully. "How are you?"

Hardison looked up and grinned happily, even if his voice was still shaky. "Me? Right now, I'm good again. Parker's still a bit out of it, but we'll get there." He fondly patted Parker's shoulder which earned him a dazed smile. Hardison looked up at Nate again, now frowning worriedly again. "How's Eliot?"

Nate nodded. "He's okay." He waved his hand vaguely in the direction where he had come from. "Lindsey just needed a moment with him." He grinned, only a tad suggestive, but got serious again quickly. "We gotta leave. Eliot's gonna drive with Lindsey. You wanna stay in the back with Parker?" 

Hardison's attention was still focused on Parker. "Yeah. Gonna make sure she doesn't doze off. You drive." 

Sophie's gaze had involuntarily followed Nate's hand wave and her eyebrows shot up as she caught sight of the two men still standing next to the trees. _Oh. Oh my._ Of course she had seen them kiss before. And, as Nate had pointed out a few times when both Lindsey and Eliot had been living at his place, the guest room walls were not exactly soundproof. But this? She felt herself blush a little as she realized that both men had obviously completely forgotten the presence of the rest of the Leverage team. Their kissing grew more and more passionate every second and Sophie suddenly knew exactly where this was leading. 

_I... should break this up, but... hell, they are old enough._ She forced herself to look away with an embarrassed little laugh as she reached out to Nate and tapped him on the shoulder. "Uh, Nate? We should... um, we really should bring Parker to a hospital. Check for smoke poisoning and, and that is probably a concussion." She gave Nate that dazzling smile of hers that was just a little too bright. 

Nate frowned in confusion. "Sure, we should, but... Sophie, what's wrong?" 

Sophie climbed out of the van's back and moved towards the passenger door, trying to keep Nate's eyes away from the kissing couple behind her. She smiled reassuringly. "Nothing. I'm just... worried, that's all. We... shouldn't wait any longer." 

Nate narrowed his eyes, but then simply shrugged. "You're right, of course. Eliot should go too, to make sure he hasn't breathed in too much of the smoke. Doesn't sound like it, but better safe than sorry." He made a move as if he wanted to turn around. 

Sophie quickly caught his arm. "Um, I'm sure that, that Lindsey will take care of Eliot. They'll take his car." She nodded emphatically and tried to push Nate towards the driver's seat. 

Nate stopped and looked at her, shaking his head. "Sophie." He narrowed his eyes and his voice took on slight touch of impatience. "I'm not sure what you're up to. It's better we bring them both in at once. It’s easier for the cover story. Lindsey can kiss Eliot some more later, when we're sure that they are all right." He gave her a placating smile and started to turn around again to move towards the two men.

Sophie threw her hands up and made an impatient sound. "Nate!" _You idiot_ , she added silently as she grabbed his arm and forced him to look at her. "You really are kind of daft, aren't you?" She suppressed a laugh at the shocked expression on Nate's face and continued. "Look, I'm going spell it out. Are you listening?" Nate just nodded, stunned, and Sophie grinned, pointing at the couple behind them. "You see them? Good. Now, in about... let's say ten seconds Lindsey will have torn off all Eliot's clothes and they're going to fuck against the next available surface. If it's your thing to watch..." She shrugged and smirked. "Feel free to stay. But give me the keys."

Nate's jaw dropped. Sophie wasn't even sure if it was because of her deliberately crude choice of words or because of the image they painted in his head. He made a weak sound. "Well... huh." He peeked again carefully at the kissing couple, cheeks blushing just a tiny bit. 

This time Sophie followed his gaze and found that Eliot's shirt indeed was already half ripped open. And that it didn't look like they were going to stop at that. She smiled seductively. "As for the losing clothes thing..." She lowered her voice and whispered in Nate's ear. "I have to confess I have something similar in mind when we get home."

Nate's eyes widened almost comically at her words and a faint blush appeared on his face. He swallowed twice before he finally managed to speak. "But... um, they're gonna... eh, get caught. We can't..." 

Sophie chuckled. "Nate, the police will show up here with sirens blaring. That will be enough to warn the two of them, I should think. And..." She arched an eyebrow. "Do you want to go over there and interrupt them?" 

Nate scratched the back of his head and scrunched his nose. "Right. I... think you're right. They’ll, uh, watch out for the police. And yeah, sirens. Right? They have Lindsey's car. Um... keys. You drive. And... yeah. Yeah, definitely." He fumbled the key ring out of his pocket and pressed it into Sophie's hand before striding over to Parker and Hardison, almost tripping over his feet on the way. 

"Good." Sophie looked down at the keys in her hand and chuckled. It was good to know that there were still things that could throw Nathan Ford off track. 

***

Lindsey could feel a shiver running through Eliot's body, heard the hitch of his breath and accentuated his earlier words by softly biting down on Eliot's earlobe. It earned him a sharp hiss and the fingers around his nape tightened their grip. He moved his head a little and captured Eliot's mouth again, kissing him hard and demanding. Eliot made a small choked sound. Given the almost desperate way he kissed back, he seemed to understand now what it had been that got Lindsey so upset. 

Lindsey felt Eliot's lips part and deepened his kiss even more, licking into Eliot's mouth, chasing the flavors he found there. A bitter tang of smoke, the sickeningly sweet aftertaste from the orange soda, and behind all that, the familiar taste of _Eliot_. A tiny moan escaped his throat. His hand slid down to the buttons of Eliot's shirt, trying to open them one-handed since he still used his other hand to press Eliot closer to him. Not that it would have been necessary, not with the way Eliot's hands were already tugging at Lindsey's shirt, pulling it out of his jeans. When he felt Eliot's fingertips stroking over the bare skin on his back, he lost whatever patience he had before with the buttons. He simply ripped at the shirt until they popped off so he could finally touch bare skin, warm, _alive_.

Placing small, soft bites on Eliot's jaw, he let his mouth wander to Eliot's ear again while his free hand stripped off the remains of Eliot's shirt. "Want you." His voice was just a hoarse whisper, but he could feel Eliot shiver again and knew that he had heard him. "All of you," he added and then not-so-softly bit down on Eliot's neck, just to make his point completely clear. A low growl was the answer. 

Lindsey could feel Eliot's growing erection pressing against his own as he ground his hips forward. Running his tongue over the bruise he'd just caused, he grinned with satisfaction as he heard the soft whimper that Eliot couldn't completely hold back. He pressed his lips against the tender skin and sucked at it softly while burying his hands into Eliot's hair again. It was extremely satisfying in terms of getting more whimpering noises from Eliot, but caused a slight problem.

Lindsey couldn't bring himself to completely let go of Eliot to get rid of his clothes. He wanted, needed to keep at least one hand on Eliot's body. This stupid fear - _If I don't touch him, he'll vanish_ \- still lingered in his mind, and he couldn't turn it off. Since Eliot's hands just felt damn good roaming on his chest, he decided not to ask for help. A decision he almost regretted as he finally managed to shove the tight denim down his legs only to realize that he hadn't taken off his boots. It resulted in some awkward hopping as his feet caught in the fabric, and Lindsey let out a stream of curses. He had to grab Eliot's shoulders to keep his balance and could hear him chuckling. "Not funny," Lindsey growled, and Eliot laughed even more for a moment before he grew serious.

"Y'know, it would help if you'd just use both hands." Eliot's voice was soft despite the gravelly sound caused by his arousal, but he seemed to sense that Lindsey needed to keep the body contact. He lifted his hands to Lindsey's nape and cupped it in a surprisingly gentle move, just holding him. Only his ragged breathing gave away his own desire.

Lindsey closed his eyes with a small relieved sigh. He reluctantly let go of Eliot's hair and managed to get out of his boots and jeans quickly. As he looked into Eliot's face again, he found him gazing over his shoulder, grinning wickedly. Lindsey frowned. "What's up?"

Eliot grinned even wider. "The van took off. Tactical retreat of the rest of Leverage Consulting & Associates. Guess they don't wanna see your naked ass. Are ya sure we still have some time...?" Without waiting for an answer, he tilted his head and kissed Lindsey again, waiting for Lindsey's hands to slide around his waist before quickly opening his belt and pushing down his jeans. Lindsey pulled back a bit, panting harshly. 

"Not really... guess we'd better hurry..." Lindsey slid his hand down on Eliot's body and cupped his hard cock, causing him to groan. Eliot's hips jerked forward, and Lindsey groaned in response as the movement caused friction on his own cock. He quickly spat into his hand _\- better than nothing, I guess -_ and stroked Eliot's erection a few times until he felt him pulling back a bit. Then Eliot tried to catch his breath and looked at him.

"Slight problem..." Eliot's voice wavered a little. "We don't have any... stuff."

Lindsey blinked, then grinned almost predatory and tightened his grip on Eliot's back. He made a vague head motion to the right. "Pocket. There should be..."

Eliot's eyebrows shot up to his hairline as he pulled a condom and an almost empty bottle of lube out of Lindsey's jacket pocket. He shook his head slowly and laughed, clearly amused. "Boy Scout."

Lindsey smirked. "Leftover from our last night out. Totally forgot it, I only just remembered. Now..." He jerked his hips forward in an impatient motion. His lips brushed over Eliot's again, barely touching, and he closed his eyes. "Need you. God, Eliot, please..."

He didn't get further. Eliot decided in a heartbeat that rough tree bark would be a tad less uncomfortable than the forest ground which was covered in soggy leaves, broken branches, sprigs and small stones. He held his jeans in place with one hand and roughly maneuvered them both a few steps until Lindsey ended up with his back against a big tree. He had a split second to be grateful for still wearing his jacket before Eliot pressed flush against him. Nuzzling Lindsey's neck and slowly nipping his way down, Eliot found that certain spot below Lindsey's collarbone with his lips, and Lindsey threw his head back and cried out. He had to bite his lip for fear of coming right there on the spot, and he could hear Eliot chuckle. All thoughts of revenge fled his mind though as Eliot teased that spot again. He clung so tightly to Eliot's shoulders that he was sure there would be bruises tomorrow. His eyes were closed, but he could hear the faint sound of the condom wrapper being ripped open. Eliot whispered hoarsely into his ear.

"Hold on to something."

The idea of letting go of Eliot's shoulders seemed ridiculous. Lindsey was sure his knees would just give out if he did, all the more because Eliot was still as close to him as possible while he put on the condom and was quite eager to continue licking and sucking his way up Lindsey's jaw. But Lindsey felt Eliot's hands tightening on his hips, lifting him up a bit. The last remaining spec of clear thinking told him that Eliot wouldn't be able to support his whole weight like this for long. Reluctantly he let go and blindly reached around, and sent a silent thanks to the local forest faeries when he found a thick branch above him which would suit the purpose. He grabbed it and used it to lift himself up some more so he could wrap his legs around Eliot's waist. Eliot's mouth reached Lindsey's lips and he kissed him, hungry, needy. He still fumbled with the lube bottle though and cursed under his breath when it obviously didn't have enough for Eliot's liking. Lindsey met Eliot's questioning glance, felt Eliot's erection rubbing against him, and jerked his hips forward in encouragement. 

"Don't care. C'mon, I... don' wanna beg you again..." He managed to choke out the words against Eliot's mouth. A soft growl was the answer, and Eliot's grip on his hips tightened, shifting him just a bit upwards. He closed his eyes for a moment when he could finally feel Eliot's hard cock slowly pressing inside him. The amount of lube was not really enough, and Lindsey hissed involuntarily at the stinging _burnstretch_ feeling.

Eliot immediately stilled his movements and looked at him, eyes narrowing. "Linds..."

Lindsey shook his head impatiently. "'s okay. Just..." His words trailed off as Eliot tilted his head and kissed him again, softer, almost gentle this time. Lindsey felt him slowly pushing deeper and softly exhaled against Eliot's lips, trying to relax more. It wasn't an easy task, given that his arm muscles were already begging for mercy. Eliot seemed to notice that, wrapped his fingers around Lindsey's cock and stroked him softly. Lindsey gasped and almost laughed. _Excellent distraction._ He simply ignored the way his arms and shoulder muscles began to burn. His hands clenched even tighter around the branch, and he started to match Eliot's slow thrusts with his own. It was clumsy, uncomfortable and still somewhat painful - and Lindsey couldn't care less. He almost welcomed the feeling. _Shit, this is gonna hurt later. But...I really don't care._ He forced himself to open his eyes and watch Eliot's face - the faint flush on his cheeks, the slightly parted lips, the half-closed eyes, the needy expression tinged with concern. He felt Eliot's ragged breaths on his face, his hot skin against his own - _alive_. Nothing else mattered right now, not even the possibility of a police squad showing up any second.

He made a whimpering sound and found Eliot's mouth with his own again. "Eliot..." He breathed the word out against Eliot's lips, and like an answer, felt Eliot's fingers tighten around his cock. That tiny bit of added pressure was enough to send Lindsey over the edge. His back arched off the rough tree surface, his head fell back and he cried out Eliot's name as his orgasm hit him. His left hand lost its unsteady hold on the tree and he clung to Eliot's shoulder instead, letting his head fall forward again. Eliot's fingers tightened on his hips. He thrust forward a few more times and then Lindsey felt his body stiffen, the familiar growl vibrating against his neck as Eliot came hard inside of him. 

Lindsey couldn't hold on any longer. His hand slipped off the branch. Legs still wrapped around Eliot, he weakly tried to grab something else for balance. Eliot was still breathing heavily, but hesitantly loosened the bruising grip on Lindsey's hips. He slipped an arm around Lindsey and moved his feet, trying to steady them both. At the same time Lindsey shifted his weight just a little too much as he braced himself against the tree. With a small yelp Eliot tried to regain his balance, but failed. Still clinging to each other, they slid down to the ground, collapsing in a heap of tangled limbs and sweat-slick skin. Except for their harsh panting for air they lay motionless for what seemed hours. Finally Eliot lifted his head and moved, slowly retreating from Lindsey's body and getting rid of the condom. Lindsey winced at the slight pain.

_"No additional lube necessary." Yeah, pre-lubed my ass._ He snorted. _Do people ever_ _try_ _those things before they start selling them?_ He had to grin. _Not for this kind of sex, for sure. If I'd still be a lawyer, I'd be suing for discrimination._ Lindsey's grin disappeared and he winced some more as he began to move. The rough tree bark had left some nasty scratches on his ass and his back where the jacket had hitched up. Lindsey let his head fall back on the ground and chuckled. _Oh well. I hope we have some decent pillows._ He closed his eyes, feeling the last bit of tension and disbelief drain away, leaving only relief and a pleasant exhaustion. _Wouldn't mind if I didn't have to move for the next hour..._ But then he felt Eliot sliding closer to him, a shiver running through his body. Lindsey lifted his head and turned towards him. "You okay?"

Eliot grinned and cupped his face. "That's my line, ya know. But yeah. Just... 's getting cold. You?" 

Lindsey saw the concern on Eliot's face and gave him a reassuring grin. "'M fine. Yeah, I'll be sore tomorrow. Don' care." He saw Eliot open his mouth and raised his eyebrows. "An' don't say you're sorry, or I'm not gonna let you borrow my jacket."

Eliot broke into relieved laughter and pulled him closer for a quick kiss. "Wouldn't risk that." He slowly sat up and made a face at the sticky wet leaves clinging to his naked body. Lindsey mumbled whiny protesting noises and pulled a very exaggerated pout, but reluctantly moved to stand up. Eliot chuckled. He stood up, pulled up his jeans and offered Lindsey a hand. "Sorry Linds, but we have to go. Ya hear that?"

Lindsey blinked and then heard it too - sounds of sirens in the distance, still faintly but it wouldn't take them long to arrive. Lindsey sighed and slowly got up, suppressing a groan and instead grinning wickedly at Eliot. "Guess we don't wanna give them a show...?" Eliot just raised his eyebrows while he picked up the torn shirt he'd been wearing. He shook it a few times to get rid of stray leaves and used it to clean them both up a bit. Lindsey chuckled and when Eliot had finished, he quickly put on his jeans and boots again. Eliot adjusted his belt and gave Lindsey a questioning look. Lindsey took his jacket off, slid it over Eliot's shoulders and used the opportunity to pick a few leaves and twigs out of Eliot's hair. 

Eliot snorted and wiped the last sticky leave from his body. "Don' know 'bout you, but I think the romantic aspect of forest sex is definitely overrated." 

Lindsey nearly dropped the evidence of their presence that he was just picking up. The last remaining tension in his body resolved itself in a fit of almost hysterical laughter until he had to wipe tears from his eyes. When he caught his breath again, he stepped next to Eliot, who had been watching him with a mix of patience and amusement. "Sorry," he gasped, and nuzzled Eliot's neck, enjoying the small shiver that was not caused by cold. "But yeah, you're right...." Very reluctantly he let go again and began to walk up to his car. "We gotta hurry. But..." He looked around while walking and caught Eliot's gaze. "If you want romantic, we can light candles at home and I'll sing you love songs for the rest of the day." Lindsey gave his voice a teasing tone. His lips curled into a small smirk, but he couldn't hide a seriousness in his eyes. 

Eliot caught onto it, and instead of a sarcastic remark he hurried his steps to catch up with Lindsey, leaned in and pressed a small kiss on Lindsey's mouth. He smiled. "Sounds good. But now..." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I think we gotta leave. Fast." 

Lindsey could hear the sirens closing in. He fell into a jog. "Yeah, but they'll drive to the house first. We should be able to get away unnoticed." They finally reached the car. A final look back confirmed that they didn't leave any visible traces, and Eliot walked around to the passenger door while Lindsey dug in his pockets for the key. The sound of sudden dry coughs startled him. Alarmed, he looked up and found Eliot bracing himself against the car, face slightly grey, trying to catch his breath after the fit finally subsided. Lindsey rushed to his side. "Eliot! What... oh." _Shit. Guess he did catch some smoke after all._ He started rubbing Eliot's back softly. "Slowly, darlin'. Slowly. Adrenaline wore off, huh? I'll drive, and you're gonna see the doctor. No arguments, ya hear me?"

Eliot leaned against him for support. Lindsey expected the usual gruff brush-off and prepared to argue, but to his surprise Eliot nodded weakly. "Wasn't gonna." His voice was hoarse now. "Smoke is fuckin' dangerous. We can stop at Doc Rogers' place." He chuckled hoarsely and suppressed another cough. "He's seen me worse. Sure you can drive?"

Lindsey snorted. "Do I look like I'm made of glass?" Eliot shook his head and grinned weakly while he opened the door. He let himself fall into the passenger seat, leaned back and closed his eyes while Lindsey got in the driver's seat. Some squirming was required until Lindsey finally found a sitting position that wasn't too unpleasant on his back and his ass. He suppressed any sign of discomfort for Eliot's sake, made sure that the incoming police were still out of sight and then they were on their way. 

***

"You get yourself checked. I'm gonna call Nate, he'd want to know that we made it out safely." 

Eliot nodded, gave Lindsey a quick reassuring smile and wearily got out of the car. Lindsey waited until Eliot had entered the doctor's office, then pulled out his phone and called Nate. It took an unusually long time until the call was answered, and Lindsey was just starting to worry when finally Nate answered breathlessly.

"Yeah? Lindsey?"

"Yup." Lindsey frowned a bit at the slightly impatient tone of Nate's voice. "You okay?"

"What? Uh... yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. You got out all right?" 

_No, this is my phone call from jail._ Lindsey suppressed a grin and was just about to answer when he heard a faint chuckle over the phone. 

In a voice that definitely did not belong to Nate. 

Lindsey's eyebrows shot up and a knowing grin spread over his face. _Sophie. I think I just interrupted something._ His grin widened, but he managed to keep any smugness completely out of his voice. "Yeah, no one saw us. Eliot's at the doctor now, checking for smoke poisoning. How's Parker?" 

It was now very obvious by the strained sound of Nate's voice that Sophie was doing her best to distract him. "Oh... good. Doctor's... good. Um, Parker? Parker is... uh, at the hospital. With Hardison." The rustling of sheets could be heard over the phone and Nate managed to speak more coherently, in his usual collected voice. "They're checking her over, but she'll be okay."

Despite his amusement, Lindsey sighed with actual relief. "Good to hear. Are we sticking to the rendezvous time?"

"Yeah, I think we should, but let's push it back a little. About... let's say at eight? Gives you.. him a little time to recover, and..." Another chuckle came from the background and Nate's voice caught a bit. He coughed. "Hardison should be back by then too, unless Parker's condition is worse than we thought."

Lindsey still kept his voice neutral despite grinning like crazy now. He could imagine the scene exactly. "At eight. Got it. We'll be there. Bye, Nate." He closed the phone and laughed out loud. "Recovery time. Yeah, sure, Nate. Whatever you say."

He leaned back in his seat, squirmed a bit to get a comfortable position and closed his eyes. A knock on the window a little while later caused him to jerk upright again. Eliot grinned at him, opened the door and slid into the passenger seat. Lindsey noticed small bandages that covered the scratches and burns on Eliot's hands, and was grateful to see that the grey tone of his skin had mostly disappeared. The smile Eliot directed at him was much more convincing. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of Eliot's face. "And? What did he say?"

Eliot crinkled his nose in disgust. "Got an oxygen treatment, complete with some aerosols that taste horrible. But my carbon monoxide level's not too bad. He says I need a few more treatments, but I'll be all right." He grinned mischievously. "Told me I probably did sweat out some of the toxins with that sex we had."

Lindsey shook his head and laughed. "Can't hide a thing from that man, huh?" 

Eliot shrugged, grinning. "Well, not wearing a shirt and having soil stains on my skin? The man's no fool, y'know." He grew serious again. "Still, he said I need to rest. And he's right. What did Nate say?"

Lindsey nodded reassuringly. "Parker's okay. They're checking her over at the hospital right now. And we’ll meet up at eight." His smile turned to a smug grin. "I guess we... inspired them. Him and Sophie, I mean."

Eliot returned the grin. "Good for them." His smile faded and changed into a hard expression. "And the bastard who conned us... we'll get him. And..." He didn't say more, but the cold fury that flared in his eyes was statement enough. Lindsey just nodded.

It spoke volumes for their state of mind that the shower they took together didn't even turn into making out. Afterwards Eliot just curled up on the bed and fell asleep at once. Lindsey stretched out next to him and tried to sleep, but the tension that had bled away after the sex returned full force. As soon as he closed his eyes, frightening mental images kept flickering behind his eyelids. He tried to force his eyes to stay open, but without really noticing it he finally dozed off.

_Eliot lying motionless under smoking rubble. Nate saying 'dead' over and over again. Parker, bleeding. Eliot, carrying Parker's body, running away from the exploding building but getting engulfed by fire._ He bolted upright, suppressing the scream in his throat just in time before it could get out. He blinked a few times, confused, looked around and finally exhaled slowly. _Dozed off. Just a dream_. He snorted. _Hello nightmares. How nice of you to stop by again._

He rubbed his eyes and swung his legs out of the bed. The fact that Eliot immediately opened his eyes and gave him a sleepy, questioning look soothed him a little. _If his senses still work like that, then I guess he's really okay._ He reached out and pulled the sheet up to cover Eliot's shoulders again, barely resisting the urge to tuck him in. He chuckled inwardly at the idea. _That would go over really well. He'd probably punch me for that one._ He gave Eliot a quick albeit crooked smile. "Can't sleep. And I'm thirsty. I'll wake ya when we have to leave."

Eliot nodded slowly, eyes already closing again. Lindsey padded quietly into the kitchen. It was only after he had set the timer for a mug of tea to brew he realized what he was doing. He stared at the mug and shook his head in disbelief. _Look at this._ _Tea_ _. I'm turning into Eliot. Tea for comfort._ A small fond smile started to form on his lips as he remembered a particular occasion. As the timer buzzed, he removed the tea leaves, went over to the bar and added Lindsey McDonald in form of a good shot of Bourbon to the mix. Slowly sipping the hot liquid, he started feeling calmer, frenzy slowly being replaced by cold fury towards the mark. _Tried to kill us. I... we nearly lost Eliot. And Parker. We will track him down. He's gonna regret this day for the rest of his life._

_ *** _

They went to Nate's place shortly before eight. Sophie opened the door, wearing a different outfit than earlier and answering Lindsey's knowing smile with a raised eyebrow and a "so what?"-expression. Then she turned to give Eliot a quick hug. "Glad you're okay," she whispered, and Eliot just nodded, looking awkward. Lindsey hid his grin. _I bet he doesn't get spontaneous hugs from her very often..._

They went into the living room where Hardison was already talking to Nate, voice low and tone serious, looking unusually glum. Parker leaned on the table and sipped some water, still looking a bit pale but smiling. The two men stopped talking as they caught sight of Eliot, and Parker quickly turned around. She took a few steps towards him and then stopped, scrunching her nose and rubbing it. "I wanted to thank you for getting me out, but you don't like hugs, right? I mean, except if it's Lindsey, but..." Eliot started to laugh fondly and pulled her into a quick embrace. 

"Good to see ya on your feet again, girl." 

Parker looked astonished for a moment and then beamed. She turned to Hardison. "See? You don't get hit if you try to hug Eliot. I don't know where you got that idea!" 

Hardison stared at her, mouth falling open, but didn't utter any of his usual witty replies. Lindsey frowned at the uncharacteristic silence, but Sophie didn't seem to notice. She tried to suppress a laugh by clasping her hand over her mouth. Eliot gave Hardison a suspicious look, but then shook his head and closed his eyes. He took his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose, and looked at Hardison, lips twitching. 

"I have a pretty good idea why, Iceman," he muttered under his breath and Hardison closed his mouth again, grinning sheepishly at the memory. Eliot turned to Parker again. "No concussion, since you're up an' moving?" 

Parker shook her head and pointed to her temple. "No. My head's all right. Just some bruises, some small burns. And some smoke, but not a lot."

Eliot huffed sympathetically. "Tell me about it. Aerosols?" 

Parker scrunched her nose again and nodded. "Yuck. I feel wonky. I don't like that."

Eliot raised his eyebrows. "You should get rest. Sleep it off."

Parker nodded and opened her mouth, but Nate interrupted. "Guys? We gotta start. There's plenty of time to chat later." 

Lindsey made a face at the thought of sitting down and quickly went over to the one chair in the room that had a pillow on it. Despite the soft cushion he winced as he sat down and the scratches on his back and his soreness came in contact with the chair. He squirmed a bit until he found a position that was not entirely uncomfortable. Eliot sat down in the chair on his right and frowned at him. Lindsey grinned and shrugged, and Eliot grinned back in understanding. He gave Lindsey a comforting pat on the shoulder before concentrating on Nate who was piling some files on the table. 

While Hardison set up his laptop, Parker narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. "Lindsey? Are you hurt? You're sitting funny." 

Sophie almost choked on the tea she was drinking and Nate froze for a second before continuing to sort through the files, pointedly not looking at anyone. Hardison looked up, confused, but didn't say anything. Eliot's eyes narrowed, and he threw a questioning glance at Lindsey, who shrugged. _Something's bothering Hardison, but what?_ Eliot shook his head again and reached for the coffee on the table. His lips started to twitch as Lindsey gave Parker a cheerful smile. "I'm okay, don't worry." 

Parker's frown deepened. "But you move like you hurt your back!" She tilted her head and grinned slyly. "And your ass. What happened, did Eliot spank you?"

Sophie had made the mistake of taking another sip of her tea and now sputtered it out again, coughing and turning beet red. Nate turned towards her and patted her on the back, but his shoulders shook from suppressed laughter. Eliot grinned, openly amused at Hardison's confused expression. 

Lindsey decided just to be as blunt as she was. He made a serious face and looked her straight in the eyes. "Naw, he didn't. Just spontaneous outdoor sex that got a little rough." He winked at her. Parker pursed her lips and obviously pondered the information. Then she nodded gravely. 

"Ah." She grabbed a small pillow from the couch next to her. "You want this one? I don't need it." Without waiting for an answer she threw it over. Eliot caught it and carefully stuffed it behind Lindsey's back. 

Lindsey smiled at Parker, a little touched and honestly grateful. "Thanks Parker." 

She nodded again and gave him a little exhausted smile. "You're welcome." She went over to the couch, curled up on it and closed her eyes. 

Hardison finally got it. His eyes almost bugged out of his face as he looked from Parker to Lindsey to Eliot and back before making a weak-sounding "huh"-noise and started frantically typing again. Sophie caught her breath again and returned slowly to her natural skin color. Nate helpfully poured her another tea and then turned back to face the others, clearing his throat. 

"Right. This is all very... fascinating, but now back to business." He looked around and his expression softened for a moment. "Although I have to say that I've never been happier to have you all here." 

Eliot looked at him, face hardening. "But that was fucking close. What happened, Nate? Did our client double cross us?"

Nate shook his head. "No. In fact, Mr. Munro got double crossed himself, in a way." His voice was all business-like now. "In this case, we had a few unfortunate coincidences. It started with the first call Mr. Munro made to us. Because his own cell phone malfunctioned, he used a spare company one at the time. Completely unaware of the fact that it was bugged." 

Everyone startled at this revelation except Hardison, who clenched his jaw and nodded slowly. Sophie looked up as if she wanted to say something, but Nate continued. "Our mark Mr. Atherton was apparently already wary of Mr. Munro, and this was a perfect opportunity for Atherton to confirm his ideas. Ten minutes after the call Mr. Munro made to us, Atherton had the recording on his desk. He had someone follow Mr. Munro to our appointment and they taped everything we said. So Mr. Atherton knew about everything Mr. Munro accused him of. Not only the embezzling of five hundred million dollars, but also the fact that Atherton framed the secretary for it. Who is, by the way, Mr. Munro's fiancee."

Sophie nodded angrily. "And the poor woman got questioned and harassed, she almost landed in jail." She snorted angrily. "So, Atherton had our number, literally?"

Nate gave her a humorless smile. "Exactly."

Eliot shook his head and snorted. "So the fucker was on our trail from the beginning. We were running straight into an ambush."

Nate patted the files in front of him. "It gets better. Mr. Atherton was - understandably - not happy. While we started digging up information about him, he started looking for information about us - and got it. We don't know exactly how yet, but I suspect an intricate connection to one of our former marks who has nothing to do with Atherton's company business." 

Hardison interrupted and pointed at his laptop. "The search program is already running. I think I know how it went down, but I need some more evidence. I'm on it."

Nate gave him an approving smile. "Good." 

Parker opened her eyes and lifted her head weakly. "So all he had to do was feed some clues to Mr. Munro and watch him lead us."

Nate gave her a nod. "Exactly. And apparently he's a man of big gestures. He decided to lead us to his weekend house, which he had generously wired with explosives. He put all the evidence he wanted to get rid of there, made sure that we were on our way..." Nate's voice trailed off and he hit his fist on the table in frustration. "He played us like we were goddamn amateurs." 

Sophie shook her head. "So how did we get a warning, then?"

Nate slowly released his breath. "I think we actually used up our luck for the next five years at least." He huffed out a humorless laugh. "As I said - big gestures. Shortly before one p.m. he called a clueless Mr. Munro into his office, put him in a chair and basically bragged to him that he knew everything. Then he described in vivid detail what was happening to us at that very moment. Only - it didn't." Nate straightened and cleared his throat before continuing. "When his watch showed one p.m., he told Mr. Munro that it was over and he should pack his things and leave if he doesn't want to suffer a similar fate. Then he threw him out. That was where our luck came in. Apparently Atherton's watch was out of synch with Mr. Munro's by about five minutes. Mr. Munro noticed that despite him being almost hysterical and immediately called us in the hope that the bomb hadn't gone off yet. And we _barely_ managed to get out in time." 

A stunned silence filled the room. Lindsey gnawed on his lower lip, staring at the table. Finally he looked up, frowning in confusion. "What I don't get - ain't that kind of overkill? He embezzled a whole lot of money and frames a woman. Yeah, that's not exactly good behavior, but is it reason enough to try an' kill six people?" He straightened, ignoring the stinging in his back for now. "This smells like he has more skeletons in his closet than we thought."

Eliot and Sophie made approving noises. Parker opened her eyes, tilted her head and frowned thoughtfully, looking at Hardison. Nate opened his mouth, but Hardison sighed heavily and spoke first. "A lot more." His shoulders slumped and he avoided the suddenly alert and questioning looks the others threw him. He was uncharacteristically quiet for a few moments, and the others started to look worried. Nate started tapping his fingers on the desk, and Eliot finally scowled. 

"Dammit, Hardison, spit it out! What's up, cat got yer tongue?" His voice was growly, impatient, but carried a hint of concern at the same time. Hardison looked up and smiled a little weakly.

"You know - my girl is truly amazing. What Parker wants, Parker gets." He looked at her and nodded, and she pushed herself upright and beamed proudly. "And if she says she needs a second, you can take that literally."

Eliot leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. "Are you saying...?"

Hardison nodded, but his smile didn't look very happy nevertheless. "Yeah. Atherton didn't lie on this one - it was all there. And Parker got it out. CD's, USB sticks, everything." He hesitated, avoided the questioning looks of the others, searching for words. As Nate pointedly cleared his throat, he looked up and squared his shoulders. "I checked the stuff while she got examined at the hospital. And..." He closed his eyes for a moment. "There are pictures. And video." He met Nate's eyes, and his expression was haunted. "It's not a skeleton, folks. It's a whole graveyard. I..." He huffed out an embarrassed laugh. "I saw five or six of them, then I closed the laptop, went to the toilet and threw up the last three days' worth of food." 

He looked down again, kneading his fingers and not saying any more. The others looked shocked, and Lindsey bit his lower lip. He tried to imagine something that was so bad that it could take the geeky bounciness out of Hardison and shivered. 

Finally Nate sighed and looked actually satisfied. "Then he can't get out of this. Hardison, even if it's bad, run it for us."

Hardison looked up. He clenched his jaw for a moment and then shook his head. "Sorry Nate, no."

Sophie gasped in surprise, Parker looked unbelieving and the three men simultaneously straightened up in their chairs. It would have been funny any other time, Lindsey thought, if it hadn't been for that... _look_ on Hardison's face. Nate slowly shook his head, voice amazingly calm. "Hardison, if there's evidence we can't see, then we can't use it. Run it. Now."

Lindsey recognized that authoritative tone of voice that signaled Nate was short of losing his patience. Hardison must have heard it too, but stubbornly shook his head. "Sorry Nate. I'm serious here. I'm not showing this to the girls. And - " He threw Eliot an apologizing look before locking eyes with Nate. "You and Eliot shouldn't see it either." 

Nate snorted. "Hardison. I understand you want to protect Sophie and Parker, but what can possibly -"

He was interrupted by a growling angry sound that came from Eliot. "Children." He gritted out the word through clenched teeth, grabbing the armrests of his chair so hard that his knuckles went white. Hardison swallowed and nodded slowly.

Lindsey barely noticed Nate's face going pale, Sophie putting a hand on his arm and Parker making a squeaky disgusted noise. His head flew around to Eliot. He could actually hear the armrest creaking as Eliot's grip on it tightened even more. Without thinking he reached out and gently covered Eliot's left hand with his own, careful not to apply too much pressure on the bandaged burns. Eliot immediately let go of the armrest. He twisted his hand and laced their fingers together, squeezing Lindsey's hand so tight that it hurt. Lindsey flinched, but returned the pressure, realizing that Eliot didn't care about the possible pain right now. And very likely Eliot hadn't even noticed what he had done - his eyes were still fixed on Hardison, who argued with Nate, quiet but determined. 

Lindsey searched Eliot's face, saw the darkened eyes, the clenched jaw, the look of pure anger. He knew without a doubt that if the mark was here in this room now, Eliot would kill him in the most painful way possible. Lindsey himself felt numb. His thoughts whirled. _So that's why. No wonder he'd rather kill six people than letting that get out in the open._

He vaguely noticed that Hardison shook his head at Nate again and abruptly closed his laptop. Nate had shaken off Sophie's hand and leaned forward, still arguing. Eliot closed his eyes and took deep breaths like he always did when trying to calm himself down. Lindsey brushed his thumb over Eliot's wrist in a soothing gesture and finally felt Eliot relaxing a little. He leaned over to him. "Eliot?" he asked in a quiet voice. Eliot turned his head and met his eyes, then seemed to realize for the first time that he held a bruising grip on Lindsey's hand. He looked down on their joined fingers, confusion showing on his face, but then he looked back at Lindsey's face and gave him a small grateful smile.

To Lindsey's utter amazement Eliot just loosened his grip, but didn't let go of his hand. Eliot leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes again and Lindsey had the weird feeling that somehow Eliot grounded himself through the hold on his hand, used it as an anchor to control his anger. Lindsey's lips turned into a fond smile at the idea, but then he quickly turned his focus back to Hardison, who was giving Nate a determined stare.

"Nate... no. Just no. This stuff... it's bad. Capital B here." He held Nate's angry glare without flinching. "To be honest? If Eliot sees it..." He threw the hitter an apologizing look and shrugged as he realized that Eliot had his eyes still closed. "Eliot's gonna kill that guy. And as much as I want to flay the guy alive, that's not what we do. And you..." Hardison's face went hard. "Sorry Nate, but you went off the rails before. And for this? We need your brain clear, man. I don't wanna get us into more trouble just because you go on spree all of a sudden." 

Hardison stared at Nate, and to Lindsey's surprise Nate looked away first. Lindsey nodded inwardly. He only knew the details Eliot had told him over the years, and of course he'd read all of Hardison's files, but that was enough information to know that Hardison might have a point. The fact that Sophie didn't interrupt just added to it. The hacker's lips twitched and he continued, voice a little softer. 

"I'll give you a rundown on what I saw. Enough for you all to know what we're up against. Okay?"

Nate had obviously found his stubbornness back. He shook his head. "Hardison, if we miss out on a crucial detail just because you..."

A shift in the seat next to him made Lindsey turn around and look at Eliot. The hitter finally opened his eyes again and spoke, his voice was surprisingly calm.

"Guys? Cut it out."

Both men broke off their argument and stared at Eliot, looking surprised as if they had totally forgotten the presence of the others. Eliot's eyes still flared with anger, but he was more collected now. He fixated Nate. "I hate to say it, Nate, but he's right. We don't need another Maltese Falcon." Nate actually looked guilty for a split second and Eliot smirked. He looked at Hardison, getting serious again. "All that stuff you got. Is it enough to put him in jail?"

Hardison snorted out a laugh that sounded almost hysterical. "If the police gets all that, they're gonna lock him up and throw away the key."

Eliot smiled, a slow, dangerous curl of his lips. He looked at Nate who rubbed his chin, wheels in his head obviously turning at high speed. Then Eliot lifted his head. "Hardison, did _Mister_ Atherton get a police report yet?" He spat out the word like it tasted foul.

Hardison grinned broadly and proudly. "Not an official one. It got, ah, redirected to Mr. Atherton's new right hand, the capable Mr. Tennant. Who told the police that..." He grinned even broader and threw himself into a pretentious pose. "Mr. Atherton is out of town, but will be at their disposal tomorrow." He relaxed again and smirked. "Mr. Tennant then regenerated into the good Special Agent Leonhard who in return called Mr. Atherton to inform him that sadly his house got blown up and the bodies of six thieves were found. They're currently checking Chicago mob suspects. Atherton expects to be questioned tomorrow afternoon." He shrugged. "I had two hours to kill at the hospital after losing my cookies. This felt good." 

Sophie huffed out a grim laugh, and Parker sat up and smiled her dangerous smile, the one that told Lindsey that she would be willing to kill. Eliot, while still having Lindsey's hand in his, leaned forward and slapped Hardison's shoulder. Nate looked proud and gave Hardison a satisfied nod. "Very well done. That gives us until tomorrow." He looked around, his face was stone cold now. "This is gonna be working the night shift, guys. We're not just gonna get him locked up. We're gonna destroy him."

Sophie raised an eyebrow, but looked appreciative; Parker still sported that smile and nodded slowly. Hardison looked more relieved that Nate didn't insist on seeing the videos and pictures anymore. All Lindsey felt was cold satisfaction. _If Nate has a plan - then the guy is done for. Good._ He threw Eliot a glance and shivered at the still lingering cold fury in his face. "I like the sound of that. How?"

Nate smiled coldly. "Let me explain."

***

Two hours later every detail was clear. Lindsey slowly shook his head. _Wow. Done for indeed. Note to self - don't piss off Nate on a personal level. You'll end up in hell._

Nate looked around. "Right. Any more questions?" Everyone shook heads, looking grim and more or less sickish from the summary Hardison had given them about the contents of the safe. Nate continued. "Hardison, given that Parker almost died, I know that you'd love to confront the guy, and you have every right to, but I'm afraid that won't work." Hardison looked disappointed, and Nate gave him a sympathetic look before he explained. "There is a lot of hacking to do now. I know some of it runs automatically, but I need you doing what you do best." 

Hardison pursed his lips, hesitantly agreeing. "Yeah, true." He looked at Nate and narrowed his eyes. "Oh no man, I can read your mind. Please don't, Nate, I'm serious. You're already riled up enough."

Nate took a deep irritated breath and opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Lindsey abruptly lifted his head. "I'll do it." Both men turned their heads to him in surprise. Nate closed his mouth again and narrowed his eyes a bit, pondering the idea. Hardison nodded slowly, a small relieved smile forming on his lips. Lindsey cleared his throat and gestured sharply to Eliot with his free hand. "I think I have the same right as Hardison." His face hardened as he motioned to Hardison's laptop with his free hand. "Show me the stuff." 

Hardison startled and gave him a confused look. "Why? Really, Lindsey, it's enough when I have the nightmares!"

Lindsey shook his head, determined. "I need to see at least a bit. Chances are Atherton thinks we're bluffing, and I need to give him a few details to prove that we have the stuff. That's gonna work best if I actually see it. Doesn't have to be much." 

He felt Eliot stiffen next to him and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. He heard a resigned huff and smiled inwardly. _Always protective. Not this time, Eliot. This time it's the other way around._ Hardison gnawed on his lip and nodded slowly, still not looking happy about it. Lindsey gave Nate a questioning look and Nate sighed, giving in.

"Okay. This may be the better idea, I agree. Hardison, any objections?"

Hardison shook his head, stood up and pointed to the door. "My office." He gave Nate a smirk. "Just to be sure." Lindsey had to stifle a grin at Nate's slightly affronted expression. He caught Sophie's relieved look. _Obsessive control freak and slight self-destructive tendencies. If it's only half as bad as I think, Hardison's wise not to give in._

He reluctantly let go of Eliot's hand, answered his resigned look with a quick grin and followed Hardison to his office. The hacker sat down his laptop and opened it again. As he pulled up files, he gave Lindsey a grave look. "I turned off the audio, it's bad enough as it is. I hope you aren't very fond of your last meal." He grinned crookedly, and Lindsey felt the seriousness behind the weak joking. He inhaled slowly.

"Hit me."

The first video came up, and Lindsey stared in horror at the screen. _It's not as bad as I thought. It's worse. Far... worse._ He felt bile rising in his throat. _This... beats everything I've seen at Wolfram and Hart. He did this... for fun. No other reason, just because he_ _could_ _. God._ He managed to watch half of a video and look at a few more pictures, forcing himself to memorize significant details, and then gritted out "Stop it!" through clenched teeth. 

Mercifully Hardison reacted at once, hitting a button and blacking out the screen. Lindsey closed his eyes and fought against the urge to vomit. He tried to breathe deeply through his nose, grabbing the edge of the table so hard that his fingers hurt afterwards. Finally his stomach settled again and he felt nausea turning to ice cold anger. He heard a soft clunking sound and opened his eyes to find that Hardison had placed a glass of water in front of him. He gave him a thankful smile and took a few sips. Then he looked at Hardison who looked noticeably grey. Lindsey knew that he himself didn't look any better. His expression hardened. "We're gonna get this son of a bitch." 

Hardison stood up, expression grim. Lindsey had never seen him so dangerous-looking before. "Oh yes. I'm gonna flay him alive, I swear. Come on, let's get started." 

As they returned to the conference room, Sophie took only one look at Lindsey and stood up. Wordlessly she went over to a drawer, pulled out a scotch bottle, poured a glass and handed it to him. "Medicine. No Brandy, but it will do." She smiled a little sadly. "I don't think you'll faint, but you look like you need it." 

Lindsey gave her a grateful look. "Thanks Sophie. You're the best." He carefully sat down into his chair again and immediately felt Eliot's hand on his back, softly rubbing, avoiding the places where the scratches still stung. He downed the scotch, leaned into the soothing touch and finally turned around to smile at his partner. Eliot thoughtfully searched his face and then seemed satisfied with the determination he found there. He smiled back before they both turned their attention to Nate. Some last details were cleared and then everyone went on to their tasks. 

***

The door clicked and then Lindsey and Parker were inside Robert Atherton's apartment. He looked around the front hall and whistled softly. _Niiiice. Guy's got a lot of money at hand._ They exchanged a look and Parker immediately grabbed two chairs. She nodded.

"These will do. Perfect to tie someone up." Lindsey chuckled, but resisted the urge to make a flippant comment to that. They walked over into the living room. Parker arranged the chairs, opened a window and looked outside. A wide grin spread over her face. "Yeah, it'll work fine."

Lindsey grinned. "Didn't expect anything else. Duct tape ready? And remember the suit plan." Parker nodded and Lindsey heard Sophie's voice in his comm. 

 

_ "He's on the way. You have ten more minutes." _

 

"Thanks Sophie. That's more than enough." Lindsey couldn't hide the satisfied tone in his voice. He made himself familiar with the rooms to verify the blueprints Hardison had pulled up and then set up one chair opposite the living room door, the other one next to it. He took a gun from his pocket, expertly checking it one last time. He looked up again and grinned at the sight of Parker examining some artwork with gleaming eyes. "Impressive collection, ain't it?"

Parker nodded emphatically. "Yeah." She pouted suddenly. "But how can someone so evil have such a good taste in art?" 

Lindsey's grin faded. He shook his head. "I have no idea, Parker." His voice was soft and a little resigned. But then another voice in his comm alerted them both.

_"Incoming."_ Eliot's gruff voice made Lindsey smile involuntarily and he saw Parker grin knowingly in response. He smirked at her, but got serious again quickly.

"Got it. We're ready." Lindsey sat down in the chair opposite the door and straightened, Parker placed herself next to the door. They heard the front door falling shut and the clanking of keys dropping on a hard surface. Lindsey held the gun ready, pointing it where he knew Atherton would show himself, and waited. Only a few moments later the living room door opened and the light switched on. Mr. Atherton entered the room and froze. Lindsey looked directly into his shocked face and smiled coldly. "Good evening Mr. Atherton. Happy to see me?"

The man had good reflexes, Lindsey had to give him that. His surprise lasted only a split second longer, then he whirled around and tried to flee. Only to find the door blocked by Parker who beamed at him, bouncing on her feet and playing with a very mean-looking knife. He stopped in his tracks and turned around again, this time apparently noticing the gun pointing at him. The man's face now paled noticeably and he froze again. His lips moved, but he didn't say anything. 

Lindsey grinned at him, a very fake expression with far too many teeth showing. "I would advise you not to move. You see, my partner, Eliot Spencer, he doesn't like guns. Me?" He shrugged. "Now, Mr. Atherton, we have two options." Lindsey's voice had dropped temperature by about ten degrees, and his southern drawl was completely gone. He could briefly see Parker's surprise at his change of tone as he glanced over Atherton's shoulder to make sure she was on alert. She nodded at him and he focused completely on the man. 

"For now, I want you to listen to what I have to say. We can do this the hard way or the easy way." He tilted his head, face hardening. "The easy way is, you sit down on that chair; she ties you to it, and you don't try anything stupid. I don't have to point the gun all the time; I talk; you listen; everyone's happy." He waited a bit to see some reaction, but the man still didn't answer. Atherton was clearly seething now, his face reddening and fists clenched. Lindsey's lips curled into a hard smile, but his tone of voice was almost casual now. "I can see you don't like that one. As for option two, that would be the hard way. You do decide to try something stupid; I shoot you in the knee, and then we tie you to that chair. And you have to listen anyway." He smiled innocently. "Oh, and we make it look like armed robbery afterwards." 

Robert Atherton had regained most of his composure and narrowed his eyes. Before he could say anything, Lindsey dropped the smile and hardened his voice again. "You ask yourself now if I'm serious. Let me tell you, I really would prefer you'd choose option two. Since one p.m. yesterday, I've wanted to see you bleed. You have five seconds to decide." Lindsey stood up and aimed the gun pointedly at Atherton's right knee, but never broke off eye contact. 

Atherton huffed, seemingly unimpressed, and squared his shoulders. His voice sounded almost bored, although a small touch of fear lingered. "You wouldn't dare to shoot me. You have no idea who you are talking to. I have friends everywhere. Important friends, in high places, if you know what I mean. Scum like you can't scare me." He gave both of them a scornful look. Parker pouted exaggeratedly, and Lindsey chuckled.

"Friends. Yes, I know all about your friends, Mr. Atherton. And I have to say that I'm not exactly impressed. We know too much about them. There aren't many of them I would be proud to call friends. Then again..." He tilted his head, eyed Atherton up and down and smiled widely. "It's you we are talking about here, so that fits." He paused for a moment to let his words sink in, and was satisfied to see Atherton's haughty expression mixing with confusion. Lindsey motioned with the gun and hardened his face and voice again. "Come on, Mr. Atherton. Four…" He paused dramatically and bared his teeth in a grim smile as he saw a fine sheen of sweat forming on Robert Atherton's forehead. "Three... two..." 

"Wait." Atherton's voice sounded clearly almost panicked now, and Lindsey felt a cold satisfaction at that, and a trace of disappointment that he wouldn't get to hurt him. He gave Atherton an expectant look. The man's face had changed from angry to slightly scared. He swallowed and croaked "The... easy way." 

"Very well." Lindsey nodded courtly and motioned to a chair with his free hand. "If you'll sit down here." His voice was now calm, as if this was just another conversation. "Parker? Would you, please?"

Parker beamed and did a curtsy. "With pleasure." She grabbed the duct tape she had readied earlier, stepped behind the man on the chair and pulled his arms behind the backrest. She taped his forearms together, careful not to reach skin with the tape. She moved around him and taped his body and legs to the chair, always keeping out of Lindsey's target line. Robert Atherton looked slightly bewildered, eyes fixed on Lindsey. Lindsey could almost see the wheels turning in his head and snorted inwardly. _He's trying to find a way out. Yeah, buddy, good luck._ Finally Parker stepped back, satisfied with her work. The duct tape only touched the suit, there would be no evidence left on skin later. She nodded at Lindsey. "It's okay."

Lindsey gave her a delighted smile and lowered the gun. "Perfect."

Parker smiled back. "Now you go torture the bad guy." Without waiting for an answer, she went over to the window, opened it and climbed out, closing it again from the outside. 

Lindsey saw a flash of fear going over Atherton's face. He seemed to realize more and more that he was in deep trouble. Lindsey barely managed to suppress a smirk. Instead he kept his calm polite facade. "Mr. Atherton, I bet you have some questions now. I'll give you thirty seconds to ask them. Go." Lindsey leaned slightly forward and gave the man an expectant smile. 

The man sputtered in confusion at the change of subject, and finally choked out "You... you're dead!" Lindsey stared at him for a moment and then felt laughter rise in his throat. He couldn't help himself. He dropped back in the chair and threw his head back laughing. _Oh, you have no idea how right you are on this..._ Finally he managed to catch his breath again and wiped tears from his eyes. Atherton's face had turned red again with anger and annoyance. He hissed out "What the fuck is so funny?"

Lindsey cheerfully grinned at him. "I am terribly sorry. Inside joke. Maybe I'll tell you one day." He heard a soft chuckle over the comm that he easily recognized as Eliot's, and grinned even wider. He leaned back, relaxing his posture but gun still firm in hand. "No, we're not. There's your answer. Anything else? You've got fifteen seconds left."

Atherton's whole appearance alternated between anger and fear. He managed only fragments of sentences. "You... how.. you can't be... that's impossible!" 

Lindsey raised an eyebrow. "How? You're asking how?" His voice was dripping sarcasm now. "You know about us. We have the best thief in the world. And also the best hacker. And you ask 'how'? Please." He stretched in his seat and then leaned forward, propping up his elbows on his knees, lightly pointing the gun in Atherton's direction. "Your time is up, I'm sorry. From now on, I'll do the talking, and you better listen. Understood?"

Robert Atherton tried to find his courage again. He raised his head haughtily, but his voice shook noticeably. "I don't think I'm interested in anything you have to say. You broke into my house. You're thieves, all of you. The police will hear of this." 

_So now the battle begins._ Lindsey slowly set down the gun on the table next to him and could feel himself slipping back into his former lawyer persona. Every trace of softness disappeared from his face and his voice, and as he stood up and fixated the other man sharply, he could see him flinch. _Good._ He waited a moment and then began to speak. 

"The police. Yes, they will hear about a lot of things." He leaned forward, invading Atherton's personal space. "I know what you are thinking right now. The wheels are turning inside your head. You planned to kill us and destroy all the evidence of your crimes in one swift move. And now you see that the first part of the plan failed." Lindsey's face was only inches away from the other man's. His voice dropped to a whisper. "And you wonder - what about the second part? Am I right so far?" He abruptly straightened again. The color draining from Atherton's face told him that he was on the right track. He curled his lips into a snarl. "I did mention that we have the best thief in the world, right? Mr. Atherton, we got everything." 

Atherton shook his head frantically. "No. I don't believe you. You're bluffing!"

Lindsey just raised his eyebrows elegantly. "Honestly, I wish I was. But, as it is... let's see. A blond girl with braids and a pink shirt. A red-haired boy with a pirate t-shirt and white sneakers. Another girl, dark hair with red ribbons in it, yellow dress. I could number some of your... toys you used, but I don't want to throw up again. Not that I care about your carpet, but leaving DNA traces would be most inappropriate." He grinned wolfishly and tilted his head. "Do I need to go on?"

He took a step back and watched his opponent going completely pale, the sweat now forming big drops on the man's forehead. Lindsey counted to ten before continuing. He gave his voice a lighter tone, as if explaining something obvious to a small child. "Certainly you understand that we take this whole matter very personally. Trying to murder all of us is something we can't let slide. So we've decided to teach you a lesson."

Atherton tried to gain some ground and huffed in a effort to appear annoyed. The effect was slightly ruined by the fact that he was still pale and his voice was high-pitched. "Oh, come on. Spare me your yapping and shoot me already if that's what you want."

Lindsey feigned shock. "Kill you? Mr. Atherton, I have no intention of killing you." He grinned all of a sudden, shark-like. "I won't have to." Atherton's jaw dropped a little. It seemed to dawn on him that he couldn't talk his way out of this. He closed his mouth again and now looked really helpless. Lindsey reached out and patted his cheek soothingly, then frowned, stared at his hand and wiped it on his shirt. "Now, let me tell you the details. As we speak, my team is spreading the evidence. Those files you tried to destroy are being sent to every police station in the area, plus to stations for the locations we were able to match to the pictures. I'm going to make a wild guess here and say that in about fifteen minutes the phone lines will be smoldering. That alone would be enough to guarantee you a lifetime in jail." 

He took a step back and made a pondering face, tipping his index finger on his lips. "Of course I can't leave you here tied up until they actually come to arrest you. That would raise questions, don't you think?" He gave the other man a questioning look, but quickly made a dismissive gesture. "No, don't answer that. Of course it would. The thing is, if I cut you loose now, you could try to run. Try to flee the country. The answer is: No, you can't. At the very moment you walked in through your door, our man emptied all of your bank accounts and maxed out all your credit cards. We're going to put it to good use. All money you have left now is what you have with you. And - " Lindsey smiled smugly. "Your picture and description have been send to all train stations, airports, bus stations, cab offices et cetera, within a radius of a hundred miles around the city. Your passport number also has been flagged as 'known criminal'. So even if you had money..." He shrugged with an exaggerated apologetic look. "And I should probably tell you that your car was stolen a few minutes ago. Too bad. You just can't leave. You'll be arrested even faster if you set one foot outside of this house." 

Atherton's face color was now splotched with red on the pale skin. He hissed angrily, like a trapped animal. "You're bluffing. No one can do that this fast." He tried to straighten in his chair, but Parker had taped him very neatly with no room for movement at all. He growled in frustration and raised his chin instead. "You're gonna regret this. Again, I have friends you can't know about. In very high places. They won't be happy!"

Lindsey thought about the names of those friends they had managed to connect to the material he had seen. One of them had been involved with a mark from two years ago, and had been feeding Atherton the information he needed. Lindsey balled his fists and had to turn around and pretend to think the remark over in order not to show his disgust and rage. He stared at the gun on the table. The urge to grab it and just shoot was almost overwhelming. It rose to a new level as heard the other man snicker and say, "You better untie me now. We can make a deal."

Lindsey closed his eyes. _God, it would be so easy. Just move over to Plan B - shoot him where it hurts and make it look like robbery. No one would say anything, not even Sophie._ But then he remembered a time he'd acted out the rage that had been boiling inside of him. _Remember, Lindsey. When Darla slept with Angel. You went after him, tried to kill him, without thinking. And look how that turned out. No. Not this time._ He took a few deep breaths, plastered his best fake smile on his face and turned around again. _We destroy him, that's enough._ He looked into the man's smug face. 

"Ah, your friends again. Just so I get it right - who are you talking about exactly?" He made a small amused laugh. "I don't think you still count Mr. Munro as such, so - maybe Clive Mortensen? Windsor Braybon? Ian Halloway?" He felt a rush of satisfaction as the smug grin disappeared and was replaced by a horrified look. He nodded gravely. "Yes, I'm sure they would help you out. Drive you out of town, maybe even out of state." He crossed his arms and let his expression grow cold. "Those who are with you on this, the ones we definitely could link to your little... hobby, those names got mailed to the police too, along with every scrap of evidence we could get. And we informed them about your upcoming, ah, downfall. They'll be too busy trying to get out of the state, hell, out of the country themselves to help you along, all the more because you can't pay them, remember?" He paused a moment and studied Atherton's face. "The other ones, where we can't be sure - those just got informed that you are going to be arrested on the grounds of multiple counts of child abuse, rape and murder. With evidence, of course. Those who truly didn't know won't raise a finger to help you now. And those who did - well, we made sure they won't be able to help you too. You see, we also informed their families. They'll have to answer a lot of questions." Lindsey grinned happily and Mr. Atherton was now white as a ghost and didn't even make an attempt at answering. Lindsey went back to his chair, dropped into it and relaxed his posture.

"Right. Now let me come to the end. Let me tell you what will happen." Lindsey folded his hands in front of his belly and gave his voice a light tone. "You have no other choice but to wait for the police to come and arrest you, which will be this morning at the latest. They'll question you, all the usual procedures, and you're going to court. We will pull every string possible to ensure that. You will be tried for child abuse, rape and murder. And you will be sent to jail. For the rest of your life. End of story." He narrowed his eyes and did a fake double take. "Oh. No, actually I've got one more little story for you." Lindsey's face lit up and he leaned forward, as if he was eager to share it. "Did you know that there's actually a code of honor among prison inmates? It's kind of funny. The hardest criminals, like arsonists, murderers, drug dealers... Do you know what really outrages them?" He threw Atherton an expectant look, but got no answer. "No? I'll tell you." He stood up and walked around the chair until he was standing behind his opponent. He leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Child molesters, Mr. Atherton. And we will make sure that every single inmate knows which crimes you are sentenced for. As soon as the prison doors close behind you, you are on the lowest end of the food chain. With no way of climbing upwards. You will be lucky to survive your first week."

Lindsey straightened again and let his words sink in. He walked back to his chair and savored the ugly sight of the shaking, sweat soaked man who had given up pretending and stared at him with wide eyes, obviously scared shitless. Lindsey just curled his lips into a small satisfied smile and then looked over to the opening window. "Parker!" he greeted the blonde thief who now gracefully slid inside the room. He nodded appreciatively. "Right on time as always. Ready for the clean up?"

Parker took a look at the man taped to the chair, took in his desperate state and crunched her nose. "Yeah. As fast as possible please. He stinks."

Lindsey chuckled and went to the table to pick up his gun again. He pointed it at Mr. Atherton's knee again and gave his voice a business-like tone. "You'll be rid of us in a minute, don't worry. Parker will cut you loose now. Since she's very good with sharp objects, I'll advise you not to move at all. Got it?" Robert Atherton nodded shakily and Parker freed him from the duct tape. She picked off the tape pieces and stuffed them into a bag, then she took out a cloth and quickly wiped everything that might have been touched by them. Finally she nodded and went over to Lindsey. She narrowed her eyes and silently mouthed "Now?" Lindsey nodded barely visible and Parker beamed. She took a step aside so that Atherton could see her face, poked Lindsey's free arm and tilted her head.

"What do we do about the duct tape residue on his suit?" She looked at Atherton who still sat on the chair, reduced to a hunched shaking form. Then she looked back at Lindsey who shrugged nonchalantly.

"We take it with us." He gave Atherton a hard smile. "Take off your suit."

"What??" Atherton sputtered out the word in surprise, gathering his last bit of courage to protest. "You... what? No!"

Lindsey raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Atherton, please." He sounded disappointed. "You've been very cooperative so far. Don't make me shoot you in the last minute of our little meeting."

The man visibly deflated, the sudden flare of anger used up. He wordlessly took off his suit and threw it into Lindsey's direction. Parker caught it and also stuffed it in her bag. Atherton watched her as she went over to the window. Lindsey followed her, walking backwards, gun still trained on the bastard. Atherton looked at him and made a disgusted face. "You really get off on this, don't you?" His voice shook. Lindsey just looked at him until the other man couldn't stand it anymore and looked away. He waited until he felt Parker's hands hooking him to the zip line and waited a few seconds longer to give her time to disappear. Then he put the safety on the gun back on, propped it into his belt and gave his voice a cold tone.

"I don't think I'm interested in... anything you have to offer, Mr. Atherton. Thank you very much and enjoy your last hours as a free man." He climbed on the window sill and jumped off.

The way down from the fourteenth floor was a little intimidating, but Lindsey had trained with Parker too often to be really scared. Nevertheless he was glad to reach the ground safely, where Parker already waited to unhook him. She patted his back. "Not bad, Lindsey, not bad." He grinned at her, relieved and grateful that his work was done. A car stopped next to them and Sophie peeked out, smiling widely.

"You two need a ride?"

Parker laughed, delighted, and Lindsey sighed with relief. _Can't wait to be home. Away from here._ They hopped in the backseats and Sophie drove on. When they were on the main road again, she looked in the rear mirror to catch Lindsey's eyes. "That was... impressive." She sounded a bit guilty. "I... have to apologize. I wasn't sure you could pull it off like this."

Lindsey shrugged. "Can't blame you. I get underestimated like that very often. That was my biggest advantage, you know?" 

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "How so? I think I have an idea, but please elaborate."

Lindsey gratefully recognized the remark for what it was – more an effort to distract him than the actual need to clarify. "Other lawyers. Either from Wolfram and Hart or opponents in court. Their first impression is a not-too-tall pretty face with a hint of southern accent. Easy prey. By the time they found out that the prey was actually a predator... well." He smiled that shark-like smile he'd used on Mr. Atherton before.

Sophie nodded thoughtfully, like he had just verified her own thoughts, but looked impressed nevertheless. Parker started talking to her about how much fun the fourteen floor fall had been, and Lindsey let his head fall back and closed his eyes. The adrenaline started to wear off and he felt drained. And dirty. He hadn't failed to notice that he had given his answers to Sophie in his lawyer voice, and that shook him a bit. He tried to quiet the worrying voices in his mind, but couldn't relax at all.

The car stopped at their headquarters. Parker got out first and quickly strode over to the elevator, carrying the bag with her equipment and the suit. Lindsey got out of the car slowly, now feeling more and more numb. He didn't even notice Sophie stepping up to him until he felt her hand gently on his shoulder. He looked up and could see concern in her eyes. Her voice was soft. "You should go take a shower. That helps best losing the persona you put on."

Lindsey huffed out a laugh, not convinced. "Sophie, that's the problem. It's not a persona. It is me."

Sophie shook her head and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Not anymore, Lindsey. At least not entirely." She gave him a comforting smile. "If it was, Eliot wouldn't be with you. Trust me on this." 

Lindsey blinked. "I... guess you're right, yeah." He felt a little of the numbness lift and gave Sophie a genuine smile. "I'd better report in first, but shower is a good idea." Sophie smiled back happily and patted his shoulder again before they followed Parker to the elevator.

In the conference room he was greeted by Hardison, who grinned wide and honest and definitely more cheerful. "Hey man, that was great! That guy almost pissed his pants in the end!"

Lindsey dropped on the chair next to the hacker and nestled the small button camera off his shirt. "Did it work?"

Hardison beamed. "Clear as day. That's a really nice movie we got there!" He took a deep breath and clearly wanted to ramble on, but was interrupted by Nate who entered the room with a pot of fresh coffee. He grinned proudly at Lindsey and nodded approvingly.

"Very well done, Lindsey. You got him by his balls."

Lindsey managed a grateful smile. "Thanks Nate." He desperately wanted to go home and shower, wanted nothing more than to get rid of the imaginary smell of malice, wanted to curl up with Eliot, wanted the day just to be over. Although feeling exhausted after the adrenaline rush, the lawyer part of his brain still ran in overdrive. It re-played again and again parts of the scenery in Atherton's room, analyzing, looking for mistakes. He balled his fists for a moment, digging his nails into his palm. _Only a few more minutes. Concentrate, Lindsey._ He gave Nate an questioning look. "Did everything work out?"

Nate nodded with a satisfied smile. "Yep. Police investigations are up and running at full speed. The private contacts are all notified, we even caught a few of them forwarding mails to the police. I guess he still has some honest friends. Oops. Had." His expression was very smug and Lindsey knew that Nate was very proud of himself and the whole team now.

Hardison made a whooping noise and both men looked at him, amused. Hardison gave them a wide happy grin. "Police matched some finger prints. They're waiting for some other confirmation, and then they are out to arrest him. They're not even gonna wait until morning. He's got three more hours, tops." He pumped his fist in the air. "We got you, son of a bitch! Don't mess with Team Leverage!"

Nate and Lindsey started to laugh at Hardison's joyful outburst, and Lindsey felt a little better. He looked at Nate. "Am I good to go?"

Nate narrowed his eyes and Lindsey was sure that some of his mental exhaustion had shown in his voice. Nate's face softened. "Yeah. Eliot should be home already. Hardison has the camera feed of the whole building running, so Atherton can't get out without being noticed. We'll meet tomorrow morning."

***

Lindsey sighed with relief and pushed himself out of the chair. "Thanks. Hardison, Nate, I'll see you tomorrow." Hardison didn't take his eyes off the programs he was running and absently waved him goodbye. Lindsey drove over to his own place, trying to slow down his reeling thoughts but not quite succeeding. He opened the door, and his mood lifted a bit at the delicious smells coming from the kitchen. He sighed with relief as the lawyer voice in his head faded down a bit. 

"Linds?" The kitchen door opened and Eliot took a few steps towards him, reaching out to touch. 

Lindsey abruptly raised his hand. "Don't." Eliot stopped in his tracks, looking confused. Lindsey gave him a weak smile. "I... need a shower first. Just being in the same room with him..." His voice trailed off and Eliot's expression softened. 

"Bathroom's warm. Take your time, dinner needs another half an hour."

Lindsey nodded gratefully. A few minutes later he stood under the hot shower, just letting the water pour down on him. Slowly he felt himself relaxing. Finally he was able to shut off that nagging voice in his head and his mood lifted. He scrubbed his whole body with generous amounts of soap, ignoring the slight burning on his back where the deepest scratches were still sensitive. He washed his hair and then felt more like himself again. Except for a small hollow feeling in his stomach. 

_Eliot has now seen it. Me. What I am. Was. Whatever. No, he won't... but... Stop it, Lindsey. You're not going there again._ He pushed the thought away for the moment, quickly dried himself up, toweled his hair and slipped into fresh clothes. 

He took a deep breath and went over to the living room where he could hear soft music. Eliot looked up as he entered the room, put down his tea mug and stood up. Without a word he went over to Lindsey and pulled him close. Lindsey wrapped his arms around Eliot's waist, leaned their foreheads together and closed his eyes. They just stood like this for a while and Lindsey let the comfort of the hold just seep into him. Then he felt Eliot's lips brush over his ear.

"I threw your clothes in the laundry."

Lindsey exhaled slowly. A rush of gratitude went through him, erasing that hollow feeling. He buried his face on Eliot's neck, inhaling his scent, reminding him again that they had really made it out alive. Eyes still closed, he finally said quietly "It's crazy, but I felt... dirty. Like it could rub off on you if you touched me." He felt Eliot nod. 

"Tainted. I know that one. 'S okay." Lindsey made a small relieved sigh and opened his eyes as Eliot's hand gently nudged his chin upwards. He met Eliot's gaze, full of understanding. "An' what else is eating at ya?"

Lindsey huffed out an amazed laugh. "You... y'know me all too well, it seems." 

Eliot chuckled. "Easy. You're far too tense and your voice still's got a touch too much L.A. in it."

Lindsey's grin died. He looked away and searched for words. "I... this was the first time here that I really... well, I used everything I'd learned at Wolfram and Hart to scare the guy shitless. And..." He looked back into Eliot's eyes. "Eliot, it was so fucking easy to get back there. To be that asshole lawyer again. I'm... not sure how I feel about that." _And how you feel about it,_ he thought anxiously, but didn't say it out loud. 

Eliot nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. Then he took a step back, sat down on the couch and patted on the spot next to him. Lindsey dropped next to him and closed his eyes. Immediately he felt Eliot's arm around his shoulders, pulling him in until he was back to Eliot's chest. Lindsey felt Eliot's hands slipping under his shirt and softly rubbing in slow circles over his belly. He relaxed into the touch, and then Eliot pressed a quick kiss to his ear. "Y'know, while we watched, Nate was almost bouncing. Called you a stone-cold bastard, and meant it in a good way. An' Hardison said he's freakin' glad that you're on our side. I think he'd have preferred option two."

Lindsey twisted around a bit so he could look up and see Eliot's face. He managed to keep every trace of insecurity out of his voice. "And you?" The amused glitter in Eliot's eyes told him that the voice may have worked, but that Eliot as usual could read him like an open book. Eliot lowered his head and kissed the tip of Lindsey's nose, and then every hint of teasing disappeared from his face.

"You were amazing. You used your words like I use my fists, y'know? Beat up the bad guy with it. Predicting what he thinks and hitting where it hurts." He looked and sounded completely serious now, and Lindsey wondered briefly if Eliot had been expecting this talk from the beginning. Eliot shifted his hold a bit and continued. "Linds - this ability you got, 's your kind of weapon. Not 'good' or 'bad' by definition. All depends on how ya use it." His face hardened. "An' if anyone deserves it, it's that guy."

Lindsey felt the last bit of tension leave his body. He released a shuddering breath and nodded. "Yeah. I guess we saved a big bunch of lives with that. Fuckin' bastard." Another thought hit him and he started to laugh helplessly. Eliot raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"What's so funny, Linds?"

Lindsey turned around so that he could finally face Eliot. He shook his head in amazement. "Y'know - I just realized that this may be the most honorable thing I've done in my life - an' it was done by a bunch of thieves."

Eliot grinned amusedly. "An' not by a company who should work for justice," he added.

Lindsey chuckled and nodded. "Yeah." He reached out and cradled Eliot's neck. "I'll take the thieves any time." He pulled Eliot's face closer and brushed his lips over Eliot's mouth. Eliot responded immediately, tightening his hold. They slowly traded kisses, softly, lazy, just enjoying the closeness.

It took them both a while until they noticed a faint buzzing sound coming from the kitchen. Eliot broke the kiss and laughed softly. "Pasta is ready." He cupped Lindsey's chin and searched his face. "Feelin' better?"

Lindsey's smile was genuine now. "Yeah. A lot."

Eliot nodded, looking satisfied. "An' I hope you're hungry."

"Like a wolf." Lindsey snorted. "I ain't had anything to eat since I looked at those pictures."

They untangled and went over to the kitchen. Suddenly Lindsey remembered something and grinned. With a teasing smirk he asked "Did ya light the candles?" 

Eliot did a double take and stared at Lindsey, unbelieving. "Candles? You're kiddin', right?"

Lindsey smiled very sweetly. "You said candles and love songs would sound good. An' we didn't get to that yesterday. Ya want me to get out the guitar after dinner or not?"

Eliot made an indignant sound. "Candles. Really. I got myself a romantic ex-lawyer. Fuckin' great." 

Despite those words Lindsey could easily detect a glint of amusement in Eliot's eyes. Lindsey tilted his head and made an innocent face. "Ya want me to leave?"

A low threatening sound came from Eliot's throat, and his hand darted forward to grab Lindsey's shirt. A quick pull, and then Lindsey felt Eliot's mouth crush on his for a short but heated kiss. Eliot let go again and growled. "Fine. Ya get your candles. But I get to pick the songs, that clear?" His face softened again and he huffed out a small hesitant laugh. "An' if you tell that to the others..."

Lindsey laughed out and shoved Eliot's shoulder playfully. "And ruin your badass reputation? Aw no, don't worry. Come on now. I'm starving."

Eliot shook his head in resignation, but his lips twitched. Lindsey couldn't help but press another small kiss on the corner of Eliot's mouth. Eliot sighed in mock despair. "I give up. Make yourself useful an' get the wine, will ya?" And then he grinned suddenly, wide and delighted. "By the way, candles are already on the table. I knew you'd ask." He smirked at Lindsey's stumped expression. "But I still get to pick the songs, ya hear me?

***

 

The team had followed the arrest and the following trial very closely. Hardison had made it his personal crusade to collect every small bit of footage and newspaper clips he could get hold of, and over the months the file had grown impressively big. Finally the last day of the trial had arrived. Nate hadn't even bothered to order everyone to the headquarters - it was like an unspoken agreement that everyone kept track of the trial's development and that they all would watch the verdict being announced.

Lindsey and Eliot were the first to enter the conference room. Eliot took a look around and huffed. "We're out of beer. Great. Coffee it is then." He went over to the kitchen and Lindsey heard him rummage through the cupboards. He grinned a bit and then grabbed the folder with Hardison's collection of newspaper clippings. He turned pages, reading one or the other just to kill the time. He stopped at an article that everyone else but them would have found completely unrelated to the case. An amused grin broke over his face as he read the headline "CCAC receives mysterious donation". He remembered clearly how everyone had been rendered speechless when Parker of all people had made the serious suggestion to donate the money they'd acquired from Mr. Atherton's accounts completely, without taking a cut. She had scrunched her nose in disgust and had stated "I don't want this. I like money, but this one stinks." The CCAC had come up as a natural donee and Parker had even volunteered to deliver the goods.

In true Parker style she had swept into the building, walked up to the manager's office and leaned over the table. "You have kids that need money, right?" The manager, completely taken by surprise, had nodded warily and Parker had slapped the envelope with the check on the table. "Then you're gonna get this. Don't ask questions, use it." Then she had just turned on her heels and walked out, complaining later that the office had been on a first floor and that there was no use for the zip line.

Lindsey smiled contently at the memory. Even if there had been investigations, the money would have come out clean. Hardison was still very proud about that particular piece of work. And the news footage about the things that had been achieved thanks to that money had caused Lindsey to completely come to peace with the way he had dealt with Robert Atherton. Eliot had pointed out the happy faces and had quietly said "There's your 'Fuck you, Wolfram and Hart'. Right?" and Lindsey had agreed wholeheartedly.

Eliot returned with a big coffeepot, and while they sipped their first mug, the others arrived and took their seats. It was a weird atmosphere in the room. Nate had a grim look on his face, and the usual playful banter just didn't happen. It felt like everyone re-lived that fateful day and was glad that this case would be wrapped up today. Hardison activated the video screen and tuned to a news channel. It didn't take long until the broadcast from outside the court building started.

"In only a few minutes the verdict will be announced on one of the ugliest cases Chicago has seen since John Wayne Gacy. The case 'City of Chicago versus Atherton' deals with the dark secrets of a well-known and respected business man whose downfall we witnessed over the last months. Robert Atherton has been charged with multiple counts of child abuse and murder. Although a plea for getting out on bail would have been useless, experts are still amazed that Atherton never even tried, although he never pleaded guilty. Atherton has claimed not having the money to do so - not very likely if you look at the company he's been managing over the last ten years. While it is true that his accounts have been emptied, one can safely assume that the money now peaceful slumbers on some account in Switzerland or the Caymans and waits for its owner. But right now, it looks like it will have to wait for a very long time."

The team exchanged looks and Hardison smirked. "Aw, poor guy. For once he tells the truth and no one believes him..." Parker giggled and the others just grinned, but brought their attention back to screen quickly. The reporter was still describing the details of the trial.

"...divorce from his wife came through last month, and she and her children are not available for a comment. But it seems that the wait is over - District Attorney Christian Stevenson is approaching us for a statement now."

The mass of reporters and camera teams surged towards the door where the DA just had appeared. Lindsey found himself holding his breath and took a quick look around at his team members. Hardison's eyes were fixed on the screen with an anxious look, and he had grabbed Parker's hand. Parker returned the squeeze and had drawn her lips back in disgust as the screen now showed photos of Robert Atherton during the trial. Nate's face was expressionless, but he held Sophie's hand very gently. Sophie looked like she was clinically observing the whole ruckus, and Lindsey had to grin. _I bet that's exactly what she does - absorbing details she can use for the next con._ He looked at Eliot whose face was cold and hard, eyes darkened with anger. His eyes never left the screen, but he must have noticed the quick glance Lindsey had given him because he reached out and gave Lindsey's shoulder a quick squeeze.

The tumult in front of the courtroom had calmed down a bit and DA Stevenson now spoke. "Ladies and gentlemen, the court has reached a verdict. We expect the judge to announce at least six consecutive life sentences for Mr. Robert Atherton in the next few days, on the grounds of first degree murder in eight proven cases." 

A cacophony of questions broke loose, but the team wasn't paying attention anymore. A collective sigh of relief went through the room, and they all just looked at each other and smiled, tension slowly subsiding. Hardison muted the sound from the screen and leaned over to kiss Parker. Nate leaned back in his chair with a satisfied wolfish grin on his face. Lindsey felt drained all of a sudden. _Over. We got him. We did it_. He felt Eliot's hand cradle his neck, and he turned his head and gave him a grateful look. Eliot's lips curled into a quick smile and he just nodded. Sophie stood up and wordlessly refilled everyone's glasses, then raised her own. Everyone clinked their glasses together in a silent gesture of victory. No toast was given - no one felt like honoring the man who had tried to kill them with more words. They drank, and then Nate relaxed and leaned forward, placing his hands on the table.

"Right, guys. Our next client is Mr. David Robinson from Chile. He has a good friend who disappeared about two weeks ago and..."

 


End file.
